Tuesday, June 12, 2012

So my last night in Cyprus was nice.  I spent most of the evening with Ramin and Muhammad trying one last turkish dish (special type of doner) and then beers one final time at Cafe Inn and one final movie (last minute idea because Ramin was about to cry).  Also hung out with Remember (Zimbabwean) for awhile and Fijo (Nigerian) for a bit also.  Then pulled an all nighter since there was no way I was going to wake up at 4 am to catch the bus.  Got to drag my luggage all the way across campus because all the cabs were going the wrong way, then sat in the airport (after my bag got searched) for 3 hours.  Ended up being told I owed 2,000 liras (~$1400) or 4,000 liras if I wanted to pay the debt the next time I came back (aka never go back) because I was 33 days over my 90 day visa.  Dunno if the customs guy got rid of the fine because he was nice or something actually made it go away but I got away with it.  Ended up meeting a (nother) British Cypriot on the other side of customs and talked to him until the flight came and had my final Cyprus beer for breakfast (not best idea before a plane ride I should mention).  Flights were uneventful until Paris where I managed to follow the wrong sign for half a second out through customs instead of to baggage claim so had to deal with going reverse through customs (not so fun) to get bag.

Paris was a whole nother fun.  Lady behind me on RER train got pickpocketed, first ~25 minutes on train all I saw out the windows was graffiti and run down buildings, and I thought I might die.  Got to Gare du Nord (like a  mini-mall but mostly empty (storewise, not people)), and managed to prevent another pickpocketer i think (swerving to walk towards cops made him disappear).  Got to the line two gate to find out you buy the tickets somewhere completely else so lady I asked where to buy tickets just let me go through with her, only to find control (ticket cops) standing further up.  Thankfully they were on the stair side and left the escalator side open so I got away with it.  On this train a band randomly got on and started playing music which was a nice change as I was completely exhausted.  Then got out of that train station just to be in the middle of about 6 roads and having no clue as to which was which, just knowing the name of the street I had to walk down.  I asked about 5 people if they knew which was which (none did) before one person intelligently suggested I just ask the street vendors, and as he predicted, they knew.  Got to hostel, checked in, took shower, and feeling human again.  (also has smallest elevator I have ever seen).

And so ends the blog about studying abroad and so begins the blog of EuroTrip

1 comment:

  1. Always an experience. Glad to see that you can adapt and avoid trouble. Enjoy the sites and will see you soon.

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